Not everyone can "disguise" themselves, if that's the word. Some people are easily identified by the groups that hate them, and no matter how clean of bumper stickers you keep your car, you may still run into problems once they see you. Sometimes they make erroneous assumptions about you just based on "signals" they get off you, and treat you (or mistreat you!) accordingly.

To give you an example, I know a woman who had very short hair. She was athletic. She went to the doctor for an allergic reaction. The doctor gave her the third degree and told her she got some disease because she was lesbian. Now, I know she wasn't gay because I was dating her. The doctor was just reading off the signal (short hair on a woman = lesbian), and was willing to let his prejudice take over his professional responsibilities.

Even for those who have the privilege of "disappearing" into the crowd if they want to, bumper stickers that proclaim their political beliefs may not always be a good idea. We live in an intolerant society. We don't get problems from level-headed individuals who respect the idea of liberty, but not everyone is like that. Some people are scumbags, and they'll let their prejudice take over in their interaction with you. Fortunately they are probably in the minority, but they still exist.

There are two ways about this, I suppose. (1) Be the "gray man." Disappear if you can. (2) Do what feels right to you as an individual, and be ready to fight prejudice and intolerance when they surface. This seems to me to be an individual choice. (1) denies yourself, and (2) may endanger yourself. But let me ask you, do you want the jerks in society to dictate what hairstyle you can wear?

Da Bing

First off, I feel highly privileged to be able to entertain the concept of possibly having too much freedom.

With respect to rights in general, I subscribe to the concept of "use it or lose it". I like to see people exercising their freedom of self-expression to the fullest extent, even if that means putting their foot in their mouth. It's a healthier society when more people advertise how they feel, as opposed to keeping things bottled up inside.

I'm low key because that's my comfort zone. I'm not naturally the life of the party. I admire and am secretly jealous of extroverted people who don't care what others think.

The circumstances are different but the decision process is the same. Like any teenage girl, I was into fashion. So yes, we could say others dictated what I wore. However, being bit of a free spirit, I wore sandals. I would wear sandals which were most appropriate for the outfit I was wearing. However, there are situations in which sandals are not appropriate.

Other than being arrested by the fashion police, wearing sandals (when I should be wearing shoes) did not provoke an incident.

Jeanette Isabelle

By the time I got to page 2 of this thread, I was really grinning.

The only stickers I've had on my vehicles the last 20 years say "How's my driving? ###-###-####" and "This vehicles stops at all RR crossings".

I'm 61 years old and have been reading bumper stickers for most of it. Maybe someone got shot due to their bumper sticker, but I never heard about it.

Isn't this pushing Politically Correct to a new and higher level of idiocy?

Do you really tiptoe around everyone you pass or meet, measure every word, and walk around with your hand on your holstered handgun?

Aren't you the folks who (mostly) think gun and knife control should mean controlling the criminals who use them, rather than controlling the otherwise-harmless weapons themselves? But now you totally reverse yourselves and blame the bumper stickers for the whackos who may take offense? Sheesh!

I can see it now, my old junker covered with bumper stickers:
"Pro-Choice!"
"Hedgetrimmers for Bush"
"If we can send one man to the moon, why can't we send them all?"
"Children are edible, too"
"Walk your dog? Carry a bag!"
"76 People killed by Pitbulls - Who's next?"
"Democrats are Idiots"
"Republicans are Idiots"
"Try thinking before you vote... for once"
"Irradiation Kills"
"GMOs, the other form of birth control"
"U.S. Govt: Bully Boys of the world"
"NO, it ISN'T a Christian Nation!"
"Doing my part to pi$$ off the religious right"

Then some guy in a business suit walks up to me and shoots me in the head.

The cops look at my car, literally papered with stickers (except the front three windows and a little spot in the rear window to watch for red/blue flashing lights), and ask the guy if he killed me because of my bumper stickers.

"No, that's ridiculous! I hate Chevy Cavaliers and people wearing red shirts."

Sue

I'll have to admit that I've got some Alison Krauss in my collection but I've never heard of Merle Haggard.

Wow, I didn't know such things such Merle Haggard - Okie From Muskogee even existed in the late 1960s.

Are there any ironic car stickers such as ' I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee. ' around in the USA.?

Certainly different to Epitaph by King Crimson!!

I personally wouldn't put a political sticker on my Jeep or a sticker that was sarcastic or ironic. Just not my style.

Not that it mattered side note, running up the to the 2008 presidental election people were putting supportive stickers on their vehicles, from both sides. Occasionally there were reports on the nightly news, more frequently as November came closer, of entire parking lots of cars vandalized BUT, only those cars that had stickers supporting, lets say....Red candidates. They would be scrapped through down to the metal or spray painted over.

One afternoon I was in a parking lot that got hit w/ spray paint. I didn't have any stickers on my car, a Dodge Charger at the time, but the cars on either side of me did. Someone defaced all our cars. Mine was tagged, 'expensive' on the trunk.

A friend of mine years ago had all four of her tires flattened and a note on her windshield taking exception to the candidate bumper sticker on her SUV.

But that was a Senate parking lot, where peops tend to be more partisan than the nation at-large.

I've never seen the point of alienating two-thirds of other drivers by displaying my politics on the car. Could make it harder to merge.

Dog and national park stickers, yes. Those are nonpartisan.

Some people just don't have a heart...

After working as an automotive detailer and seeing what bumper stickers can do to a vehicle's paint, I stay away from them.

Like reading bumper stickers on other peoples cars but I don't have any on my cars. Don't like what the stickers will do to my paint.

But if you want to be invisible an older car or truck with a subdued color is your best bet. My truck is a white 98 and is very invisible and it does not stand out. My cars on the other hand are sports cars, they all draw varying degrees of attention and are "social" cars. They don't need bumper stickers to stand out, most of the attention is positive but once in a while. And the more expensive a sports car looks the more likely you are to come across a real bozo once in a while. Also every ricer wants to street race, they get ignored. But if I have a choice of driving a mundane car or one that makes my right foot happy....